By Subhadeep Khan

The pandemic had an impact on everyone, amplifying and accelerating a few of our society’s most important issues and underlining the urgent need for structural change in areas such as social inclusion, reskilling, India’s broader ESG agenda, and the pressing challenge of climate change. These are all symptoms of a deeper problem: rise in water levels, rise in corruption and violence, Digital Inequality (The disparities in knowledge and ability to use digital and information technology among individuals), Financial & Gender Divide, and destruction of real opportunities, etc. Volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity are considered to characterize a VUCA world.

Unsustainable development, lifestyles, and corporate practices harm the environment, diminishing biodiversity, depleting natural capital, and contributing to global warming and climate change at large. Hence, we need to transform, on the heels of this notion, we are undertaking strong measures for developing the abilities needed to build trust and help and solve these impending problems. Industries must realize that equal attention should be delivered to the financial and non-financial factors, as they are equally important.

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The recent debate at the COP 26 in Glasglow was about a mid-century net-zero goal, or emissions dipping to near zero, and the Rio formula of 1992, which talked about common but differentiated responsibilities. Today, developed countries are interested in common responsibilities, over differentiated responsibilities. Developed countries blame developing countries for harming the environment during their journey of development, knowing the fact that developed countries are the largest consumers of the resources they outsource to the developing countries. Developed countries started ESG funds, ESG matrices, and then ESG loans. Now, the debate is whether it is the right time and right situation to aggressively adopt ESG principles for Indian organizations, or whether ESG is just another way of condescending to developing countries to developed countries to maintain their supremacy.

Let’s reflect on the ancient Indian manuscripts and documents. The Vedas are considered to be one of the most sacred scriptures of India. People in India connect everything and find meaning using learnings derived from Vedas. ESG can be well explained as follows:

E stands for Environment in ESG and is well-defined in ancient manuscripts as follows:

Pancha Maha-Bhoota, is also known as the web of life. The five basic elements of life are called the Pancha Mahabhutas- Akasa (sky or ether), Vayu (air), Agni (fire), Jal (water), and Prithvi (earth). All these five elements comprise forming nature. The human body and cosmoses are interconnected, which means nature is the primal source of energy. It is important to safeguard our environment. The energy use, waste management, pollution control, and natural resource conservation methods of a corporation are all considered environmental standards. The environmental domain encompasses a company’s or government’s contribution to climate change via greenhouse gas emissions, as well as waste management and energy efficiency.

“Isavasyam idam sarvam” is a phrase in Bhagwat Geeta that is used to describe the concept that everything in the entire universe is enveloped by God. Idam sarvam means “all this,” while isavasyam means “pervaded by God” in Sanskrit. Even our ancient manuscripts give equal importance to nature and the environment. In India, we refer to land as “Dharti Mata”. The Vedas also state that the environment and human sustainability are interconnected.

S stands for Society in ESG and is well-defined in ancient manuscripts.

Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam is a Sanskrit word. The phrase Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam consists of several words: Vasudha which means ‘The Earth’, Eva means ‘Is Thus’ and Kutumbakam means ‘Family’. This means the entire world is one family. Everyone should treat everyone equally.

“Samano mantra, Samiti Samani” means command equality by birth, community, and harmony. In this way, society is defined by our Vedas.

G stands for governance in ESG and is well-defined in Ramanyan and Arth Shashtra.

Governance can be well explained by Ramayana. When Rama went into exile, his brother Bharat begged him not to leave as he was not able to handle the administration of Ayodhya.

Then Rama gave a lesson to Bharat and said, to have good administration, one should have the following:

· Good quality of ministry

· A well-defined strategy

· Temperance in the administration of justice

Thus, the ancient texts also tell us that proper governance and supervision are necessary to achieve our goals.

“Arth Shashtra” a well-known and first book on Governance, was written by Chanakya. Chanakya served as the chief advisor to the emperors of the Maurya Empire. The ancient Indian political treatise, the Artha Shashtra, has four pillars:

· Raksha- Risk management

· Vridhi- Growth of our stakeholders

· Palana- Compliance in letter and spirit

· Yogak shama- Well-Being, Corporate social responsibilities

It is evident that ESG has already been well-defined in our Vedas and ancient manuscripts and is not new to us. We do not need any intervention from the western world to make us understand and adopt the best ESG practices. Rather we just need to follow ancient texts like Vedas, Ramayana, and Arth Shashtra. We can easily conclude that it’s the right time and situation to revert to learnings from our ancient manuscripts and work to make India a leader in the domain of best ESG practices. Why can’t industries and organizations in developing countries set an example by being the ESG leader?

The term “Vedanta” is itself derived from Veda. We, at Vedanta, believe in our Vedas. Thus, ESG is a boon not only for us but also for our organization. Our Chairman, Anil Aggarwal, has set a goal for us: Vedanta to be an ESG leader. Let’s do it together! Let us not do it for us, let us do it for generations to come, let’s do it for the betterment of the whole of mankind! Let’s create an equitable world going forward! Let’s make Vedanta and India an ESG leaders!